Written by Emma
Ground #77
Saturday 28th February 2026
National League (Step 1)
Scunthorpe United 3 – 3 Solihull Moors
Attendance: 4,230
Entry: £18 (standing)
Scunthorpe is an industrial town in North Lincolnshire. Many notable people have come from here including golfer Tony Jacklin, former Scunthorpe United manager Neil Cox and perhaps the most famous, ME!
Today, having already planned a trip back to Sunny Scunny to see my family, we also decided to FINALLY make our long overdue visit to Glanford Park as The Iron took on Solihull Moors. After numerous recent trips to local step 5 team Bottesford Town, it was about time to see how my other home town side were getting on and we even managed to tempt my Dad along for the day.
Founded in 1899, ‘The Iron’ spent the early years in the midland league before being elected into the football league in 1950. The most successful years for the club came under manager, Nigel Adkins, in the early 2000s as the club spent two short spells in the Championship. A rollercoaster ride saw back to back relegations and the club back in the fourth tier in 2013 before a promotion back to League One the following year.
After 5 years of relative stability the rollercoaster continued as the club was relegated before two years later, two more relegations saw the club playing regional football. After a 72 year span in the Football League at the end of the 2021-22 season we found ourselves bottom of the table, thus ending our reign. Fast forward to today and after a brief visit to the National League North, we find ourselves back in the National League. But with us sitting comfortable in play-off position I am confident this phoenix will be rising from the ashes very soon.
After an even start, a quarter of an hour in the ball was given away in midfield and Solihull capitalised taking the lead. Just before half time a lovely finish from the edge of the box gave the visitors a deserved second going into the break.
The main stand at Glanford Park is currently sponsored by Jason Threadgold Funeral Directors and as the second half got underway the atmosphere in the home end resembled that of a morgue. Luckily, just three minutes later we were back in it thanks to a free header from a corner.
To make matters worse for the visitors, five minutes after this an off the ball incident was spotted by the linesman and after deliberation the referee brandished a red. A very frustrating half hour would follow with Scunthorpe unable to make the extra man count. Every thing was very predictable with all the attacks coming down the right hand side through winger Roberts.
With ten minutes to go, The Iron were finally level after more great play from Roberts who crossed in for an easy tap in to make it 2-2. Somehow, the visitors were not learning from their mistakes and just 5 minutes later yet again it was Roberts cutting in from the right and this time running the defender ragged with some fancy footwork before once again putting it on a plate for Danny Whitehall to complete his hattrick.
Cue delirium in the terrace as the come back was complete. But unfortunately, as the clock ticked past 94 minutes the ten men of Solihull won a corner. The keeper came up and every one held their breath, poor marking in the box meant it was too easy for The Moors to get a late equaliser. Absolutely gutting after the brilliant fight back but to be honest, a point each was probably deserved after a thrilling afternoon of football.
Now to rate Glanford Park:
Location: 5/10
The Attis Arena (formerly, locally and always known as Glanford Park) is around 2 miles from the train station, so about a 40 minute walk to the ground if going by train. There are plenty of buses that will also travel to this area and with many shops, supermarkets, restaurants and a pub just outside the ground it means a busy atmosphere on game day.
Although the ground has a car park and with the shops also having car parking you are not short on places to leave the car, however, we all fear the ticket man coming up to our windscreen so we recommend parking on the streets in the housing estate nearby to avoid any risk of a more expensive day out.
There are also plenty of fast food restaurants nearby and a single pub just a stones throw from the ground for those pre-match pints however, we do highly recommend visiting The Iron Bar and eating in the ground itself….but more on this later.
Kit: 8/10
Scunthorpe has always been known for its claret and blue home kits and with this season following suit I felt right at home sporting my 2021/22 attire.
This seasons kit has the recognisable claret body and blue sleeves but the extra touch I like about this one is the iron chains going down the shirt to give it that striped look whilst also highlighting the towns proud history in the steel industry. The matching blue shorts make the kit look smart and I also want to give an extra mention to the white away kit with claret ‘paint’ marks on it, makes it a very unique one to own.
Facilities: 8/10
Glanford Park has a very aptly named ‘Iron Bar’ behind the Britcon stand, with the claret leather sofas and images around of past wins (just a reminder of what we had) it is a great place to grab a pint before the game. There is plenty of space inside to shelter from the rain on a dull day but they also do set up part of the car park as a sort of beer garden for fans to gather in. A unique feature of the bar is that on arrival you enter from outside the ground, but once you have gone through the turnstiles you can also get in from the stand itself for a sneaky half time beer.
Look: 8/10
Glanford Park has a capacity of just over 9,000 all seating apart from one terraced stand behind the goal where the more noisy home fans gather. The three seated stands are all the same height and have a number of supporting pillars which will obscure the view if you sit in the wrong place.
The away fans are housed behind the goal and strangely during this game were all forced into one block in the corner right behind a pillar.
The ground was opened in 1988 when Scunthorpe were a fourth division side and the ground is definitely fit for football league standards making it one of the best at the current level. The only real negative we have with the ground is there is no where to get a birds eye view of the action as all the stands are quite small.
Food and Drink: 10/10
The Iron bar has a good pub selection of drinks – Guinness, Cruzcampo, Inch’s Cider to name a few and they do also have Heineken 0% on draft for those driving. All in all, it is a very good selection and has something everyone would like, but there is sadly no dark fruits BUT the food more than makes up for this.
Max offered just before the half time whistle to go and grab food to beat the crowd, we both agreed to just get something to share as we were expecting the average burger or pukka pie that you get at most grounds. But on his arrival it is like the clouds parted and sun shone down on what he was carrying….doner kebab and chips plus salt and pepper chicken pieces on a bed of rice with quite possibly the best curry sauce I have eaten. We did also hear rumours that Apple Crumble was on but after only seeing this special after he had ordered we did miss out on tasting this.
After 77 grounds and many many substandard pies and burgers we have finally found somewhere that does something a little different! As long time readers of this blog will know, we don’t give out perfect scores often, but the food here truly deserved it. By far the best food we have had on our travels so far. UP THE IRON!
TOTAL SCORE 39/50
It had been over 5 years since our last visit to the home of the mighty iron, but we will be returning again much sooner, mainly to try the apple crumble and some more of that salt and pepper chicken.
But even without the food, what a game we witnessed. A full rollercoaster of emotions in that second half as the game swung from one way to the other, a fantastic game for Max as a neutral but with my Scunthorpe hat on I can’t help but feel we threw away the 3 points in the end and went away dejected.
If you would like to see where this places Glanford Park in our Non League Leaderboard click here: NON LEAGUE
If you’d like to see the football league grounds we have visited click here: The 92
Emma’s Ground Guide 